The Niger Delta Avengers have criticized President Muhammadu Buhari for threatening to mete out the ‘Boko Haram treatment’ on militants in the Niger Delta.
Mudoch Agbinibo, spokesperson of the group made this known in a statement, warning the president that he “could win the battle but never the oil war”
It would be recalled that President Buhari had during an interview in the just concluded sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD VI, in Nairobi, Kenya, said that the militants would be given the Boko Haram Treatment if they refused to dialogue with government.
But Agbinibo said such statements were unwarranted as the various agitating groups in the Niger Delta had agreed to negotiate with the Government on ways to end the hostilities in the region.
The Statement read in part: “We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to put away the garb of a stooge to the imperialists whenever he speaks outside Nigeria.
“We have listened carefully and halted hostilities in the Niger Delta; we expect a genuine and positive attitude to restructuring and self-determination for every component unit of Nigeria.
The militant group urged Buhari to “stop presenting your government as pawn to the web of military industrialists’ complex, whenever you leave the shores of Nigeria,”
The statement added, “Nigeria is not a one-man personal property; we must have these talks every time if this union must continue to work as one.
“The people of the Niger -Delta have been living here from time immemorial, so we have the secret of the terrain and survival of amphibious operations.
“No amount of troop surge and simulation exercises will make you win the oil war, you can only win battles.
The NDA said it was obvious that the military operation in the Niger Delta, codenamed “Operation Crocodile Smile” was a ploy to unleash terror on the people of the Niger Delta Region.
Addressing President Buhari, the statement said: “You can deceive the whole world, but we cannot be deceived by the so glamorized ongoing military operations in the creeks of Ijaw communities in the Delta coded “Operation Crocodile Smiles,”
“The world should know that with your pronouncement in Kenya and your attitude to the military buildup in the Niger Delta, it is crystal clear that the military has nothing less than a pre-determined genocide in Niger-Delta…”
“All sane minds know the meaning of crocodile tears, so by code-naming your military operation Crocodile Smiles’ only betrays your motives and attitude to the whole world about the Niger Delta question.
Also, another group called People Development Initiative, PDI, has cautioned the President Buhari against using military force on the Ijaw communities, arguing that they were not militant camps.
Secretary of the group, Peter Luke, said in a statement, Tuesday: “Again, our attention has been drawn to the heavy deployment of troops and military hardware in Ijaw communities in some parts of Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa states.
“Our public outcry becomes imperative as the Ijaw appears to be the main target of the deployment of military hardware and troops in Niger Delta region under the guise of fighting militants and other pipeline vandals in the region,”
“However, President Buhari and his trigger-happy military men are cautioned not to bombard Ijaw communities as often done in previous administrations.
“Ijaw communities are not Niger Delta Avengers camps, neither Avengers’ hideouts.
The group said the heavy military presence in the Ijaw communities in Rivers and Bayelsa States have caused residents untold suffering.
“Our people suffer untold hardship; life becomes unbearable with the military ongoing operations in Ijaw communities.
“The increased presence of the military with heavy equipment has made indigenes of such communities to start relocating to hinterlands,” the statement said.
The group maintained that the “Militarization of Ijaw communities will not provide the needed solution to the ongoing agitation of people of Niger Delta region.
